It’s here first solar power plant of this size and it’s in Dijon-Valmy that it was inaugurated this Thursday, November 25, 2021. A power station which will therefore produce electricity thanks to the sun. She was built by EDF Renouvelables on land in Dijon Métropole.
– Stephanie perenon
First little booster shot the principle of a photovoltaic power plant, is having “panels which will convert sunlight directly into electricity, electricity which will be adapted and directly linked to the ENEDIS electrical network” explains Jennifer Ménagé, the regional manager of EDF Renouvelables in charge of wind power and photovoltaics.
43,000 solar panels on fifteen hectares
But then What does this plant look like and what are we going to produce there? Answer in figures with Jennifer Ménagé, “the power station is made up of 43,000 on-site photovoltaic panels which extend over fifteen hectares which produce 15 megawatts, ie the equivalent annual consumption of 8,000 inhabitants of the Dijon metropolitan area.”
A technical feat
Corn the real originality of this project is that it was built on a former landfill site. Between 1978 and 2018, rubble and construction site residues were stored here. And who says waste says constraints for construction. The center was therefore first rehabilitated by the Metropolis of Dijon during the summer of 2020 before the work carried out by EDF Renouvelables continues Yves Chevillon, director of regional action at EDF in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. “This means that here we can’t do just anything and we had to install the plant without digging the ground. That’s why the whole installation is placed on the ground with what the technicians call” gabions, a sort of large metal tub filled with rubble to keep the installation on the ground. “
– Stephanie Perenon
To develop this project the Dijon metropolis wanted to involve the population. It was concerted and it was able to participate financially in the development of this plant via a crowdfunding campaign, recalls Jean-Patrick Masson. “It’s a three-year commitment, it helps start the project and it shows that we can be on a project between a community, a private company, EDF Renouvelables, and the population. This marks everyone’s commitment to a project around renewable energies and the fight against global warming. “
What about sunshine?
One question remains: do we have enough sun in Dijon to produce so much electricity? Affirmative answers without hesitation, Jennifer Ménagé, “Today we can install solar power plants everywhere in France and even when it is gray, the panels produce electricity.”
For this project led by EDF Renouvelables, a hundred people worked upstream, it is ie for the construction of the power plant. Only a few security guard jobs will be perpetuated, but the company does not intend to stop there and already has around fifteen other renewable energy projects on the fire in our region, including three in Côte-d’Or. I have to say that Bourgogne-Franche-Comté has very ambitious objectives since it plans to produce 100% of its energy using renewable energies by 2050.